202 entries categorized "North Korea"

May 09, 2016

NPR reports at a rare political event in Pyongyang, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un told party members that the country would not carry out a nuclear strike unless its sovereignty is violated. This comes after the country has carried out a series of provocative weapons tests. During his remarks at the Workers Party Conference, Kim vowed to push forward with nuclear development despite international pressure. NPR's Elise Hu tells our Newscast unit that this is "the highest level political convening in North Korea and the first of its kind since 1980."

April 28, 2016

The New York Times reports North Korea failed to launch two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said, adding to a string of unsuccessful weapons tests in the past two weeks. The first attempted launch of the powerful Musudan missile crashed into the sea seconds after ignition. Hours after that attempt, North Korea fired another missile of the same type but that test also failed, the ministry said. Thursday’s attempts bring the total failures in launching the Musudan — one of the North’s most powerful missiles deployed or under development — to three in the past two weeks, according to South Korean officials.

April 25, 2016

Reuters reports North Korea's submarine-launched ballistic missile test is "extremely troubling" and the United Nations urges Pyongyang to "cease any further provocative action," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. North Korea said the missile test it conducted on Saturday was a "great success" that provided "one more means for powerful nuclear attack. The U.N. Security Council on Sunday condemned the test and expressed serious concern that such activities contributed to North Korea's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was the latest in a string of recent demonstrations of military might that began in January with North Korea's fourth nuclear test and included the launch of a long-range rocket in February.

April 18, 2016

The Washington Post reports North Korea appears to be preparing to conduct another nuclear test, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Monday, citing signs of increased movement near the North’s nuclear test site. With a much-hyped congress of the communist Workers’ Party to be held early next month, Kim Jong Un appears to be trying to burnish his credentials, and analysts say that a fifth nuclear test would be a sure-fire way to do that. “Recently, signs of preparations for a fifth nuclear test have been detected,” Park said during a meeting with her aides Monday.

April 14, 2016

Al Jazeera reports North Korea has deployed one or two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on its east coast, possibly preparing for launch on or ahead of the birthday of the country's late founder on Friday. South Korea's Yonhap news agency - citing multiple South Korean government sources - reported a mobile launcher was spotted carrying up to two Musudan missiles on Thursday following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month, which led to fresh UN sanctions.

April 11, 2016

The New York Times reports a colonel belonging to North Korea’s spy agency recently defected to South Korea, the South announced on Monday. He is one of the highest-ranking North Korean military officers known to have defected to South Korea in recent decades. The Defense and Unification Ministries of South Korea would only confirm that a colonel from the North’s General Bureau of Reconnaissance had recently defected, declining to provide further details. The South Korean news agency Yonhap, which earlier reported the officer’s defection, said he arrived in South Korea last year.

April 05, 2016

The New York Times reports South Korea has determined that North Korea is capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on its medium-range Rodong ballistic missile, which could reach all of the South and most of Japan, a senior government official said on Tuesday. The government’s assessment, shared in a background briefing with representatives of foreign news media here, followed a recent claim by North Korea that it had “standardized” nuclear warheads small enough to be carried by ballistic missiles. Until Tuesday, South Korean government officials, like most of their American counterparts, had played down that claim.

April 01, 2016

Reuters reports North Korea will pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile program in defiance of the United States and its allies, a top Pyongyang envoy said on Friday, adding that a state of "semi-war" now existed on the divided Korean peninsula. So Se Pyong, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, denounced the huge joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises taking place which he said were aimed at "decapitation of the supreme leadership of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)" and conquering Pyongyang. North Korea conducted a fourth nuclear test in January and launched a long-range rocket in February. The South Korean military said on Friday that North Korea had fired a missile into the sea off its east coast.

March 31, 2016

Reuters reports U.S. President Barack Obama joined with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday to present a united front over what he called "provocations" committed by North Korea in its recent nuclear and missile tests. Meeting on the sidelines of a global nuclear security summit in Washington, the three leaders recommitted their countries to each other’s defense and warned they could take further steps to counter threats from Pyongyang. “We are united in our efforts to deter and defend against North Korean provocations,” Obama told reporters. “We recognize that our security is linked, that we have to work together to meet this challenge."

March 25, 2016

Reuters reports a Korean-American man detained in North Korea has confessed to stealing military secrets and plotting subversion with South Koreans, the North's official news agency and foreign media reported on Friday. North Korea, which has been criticized for its human rights record, has in the past used detained Americans to extract high-profile visits from the United States, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations. Kim Dong Chul, who has previously said he was a naturalized American citizen and was arrested in North Korea in October, admitted to committing "unpardonable espionage" under the direction of the U.S. and South Korean governments and deeply apologized for his crimes, the North's KCNA news agency said.

March 21, 2016

BBC News reports North Korea has fired several short-range missiles into the waters off its east coast, South Korea's Yonhap news agency says. The launches come three days after South Korea said the north fired a medium-range missile into the sea for the first time since 2014. Washington and Seoul are conducting joint military drills, which North Korea sees as a rehearsal for invasion. The US last week imposed new sanctions on the north. The new sanctions were in response to North Korea's nuclear test on 6 January and its satellite launch on February 7, which violated existing UN sanctions. South Korea's military was trying to find out what types of missile had been involved in the latest launches, Yonhap reported.

March 04, 2016

BBC News reports Kim Jong-un has said North Korea's nuclear weapons should be ready for use "at any time", state media report. He told military leaders North Korea would revise its military posture to be ready to launch pre-emptive strikes, the Korean Central News Agency said. But despite its rhetoric it remains unclear how advanced the North's nuclear weapons program is. The UN has imposed some of its toughest ever sanctions on the North following its nuclear test and missile launch. In response on Thursday, the North fired six short-range projectiles into the sea.

March 03, 2016

Reuters reports North Korea fired several short-range projectiles into the sea on Thursday, hours after the U.N. Security Council voted to impose tough new sanctions on the isolated state and the South Korean president vowed to end Pyongyang's "tyranny." The firing escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula, which have been high since North Korea recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, and set the South's military on a heightened alert. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was trying to determine if the projectiles, launched from the North's east coast, were short-range missiles or artillery fire.

March 02, 2016

The Associated Press reports the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang's latest nuclear test and rocket launch in defiance of a ban on all nuclear-related activity. The United States and China, North Korea's traditional ally, spent seven weeks negotiating the new sanctions, which include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air; a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to Pyongyang; and expulsion of diplomats from the North who engage in "illicit activities." The U.S., its Western allies and Japan pressed for new sanctions that went beyond the North's nuclear and missile programs but China was reluctant to impose measures that could threaten the stability of the neighboring country and cause its economy to collapse.

February 25, 2016

The New York Times reports the United States and China have agreed to stiffen international financial sanctions against North Korea in a major shift for Beijing, which has long been unwilling to further isolate its intransigent ally. Whether the development, confirmed Thursday by diplomats at the United Nations Security Council, means that China will take steps to prevent North Korean ships from bringing coal and iron ore to Chinese ports remains unclear. The United States had pushed for a partial ban on permitting North Korean ships to enter ports around the world.

February 22, 2016

The Associated Press reports tensions have increased significantly along the Demilitarized Zone since North Korea's recent nuclear test and rocket launch, a North Korean military official told The Associated Press on Monday, adding that while he could not comment on operational details, "the reality is that it is touch and go." Though parts of the world's most fortified border can seem like a tourist trap, drawing throngs of camera-happy visitors on both sides every year, to the military-trained eye the Cold War-style standoff along the 257-kilometer (160-mile) DMZ - established when the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty - is an incident waiting to happen.

February 11, 2016

Al Jazeera reports North Korea has expelled hundreds of South Korean workers from a jointly-run industrial park in response to Seoul's decision to suspend operations at the complex over Pyongyang's recent rocket launch. Pyongyang ordered a military takeover of the Kaesong zone on Thursday, freezing South Korean assets and pulling out tens of thousands of North Korean employees. Seoul said its decision to suspend operations at Kaesong was an effort to stop North Korea from using hard currency earned from the park to pay for its nuclear and missile programs.

February 09, 2016

BBC News reports the US will help South Korea deploy an advanced missile defense system as soon as possible, officials from the Pentagon have said. They say the shield will help South Korea offset the growing threat posed by North Korea following its launch of a long-range rocket on Sunday. North Korea put a satellite or some other space device into orbit at the launch, US officials said on Monday. But it used the test as cover for a long-range missile launch, they say. Officials in Pyongyang for their part are adamant that the test was part of the country's peaceful space program.

Reuters reports North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test last month and launched a long-range rocket on Saturday, could begin to recover plutonium from a restarted nuclear reactor within weeks, the director of U.S. National Intelligence said on Tuesday. James Clapper said that in 2013, following its third nuclear test, North Korea announced its intention to “refurbish and restart” facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, to include the uranium enrichment facility and its graphite-moderated plutonium production reactor shut down in 2007.

February 08, 2016

The Washington Post reports the United Nations on Sunday condemned North Korea’s satellite launch as a “dangerous and serious” violation of international restrictions, and threatened new sanctions aimed at dissuading the rogue nation from building missiles capable of delivering weapons against distant adversaries, including the United States. The launch followed North Korea’s detonation of a nuclear device last month, putting new pressure on the United States and its threatened ally South Korea to take steps that could include deploying a missile defense capability that is firmly opposed by China.

February 04, 2016

BBC News reports North Korea appears to be preparing to launch a long-range missile, according to South Korea's defense ministry and Japanese media. Activity has been spotted at a launch station on the west coast of the isolated nation. Earlier this week Pyongyang announced it was planning to launch a satellite at some point in February. The announcement was internationally condemned - critics say it is a cover to test banned missile technology. North Korea also conducted its fourth nuclear bomb test on January 6th. UN sanctions against North Korea prohibit it from carrying out any nuclear or ballistic missile tests.

February 03, 2016

Reuters reports Japan put its military on alert on Wednesday to shoot down any North Korean rocket that threatens it, while South Korea warned the North it would pay a "severe price" if it goes ahead with a satellite launch that South Korea considers a missile test. North notified U.N. agencies on Tuesday of its plan to launch what it called an "earth observation satellite" some time between Feb. 8 and 25. North Korea has said it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program by launching rockets, although the United States and other governments suspect that such launches are in reality tests of its missiles. "We have defenses ready to deal with all threats, but in view of the announcement I have put the Self Defense Force's Aegis destroyers and our PAC-3 units on alert and issued an order to shoot down any ballistic missile threat," Japan's defense minister, Gen Nakatani, told media briefing.

Reuters reports Japan put its military on alert on Wednesday to shoot down any North Korean rocket that threatens it, while South Korea warned the North it would pay a "severe price" if it goes ahead with a satellite launch that South Korea considers a missile test. North notified U.N. agencies on Tuesday of its plan to launch what it called an "earth observation satellite" some time between Feb. 8 and 25. North Korea has said it has a sovereign right to pursue a space program by launching rockets, although the United States and other governments suspect that such launches are in reality tests of its missiles. "We have defenses ready to deal with all threats, but in view of the announcement I have put the Self Defense Force's Aegis destroyers and our PAC-3 units on alert and issued an order to shoot down any ballistic missile threat," Japan's defense minister, Gen Nakatani, told media briefing.

February 02, 2016

Reuters reports North Korea notified U.N. agencies on Tuesday that it plans to launch a satellite later this month, which could advance the isolated country's development of long-range missile technology. Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 in defiance of United Nations sanctions, and last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending an object it described as a communications satellite into orbit. Western and Asian experts have said that launch was part of an effort to build an intercontinental ballistic missile.

January 28, 2016

Reuters reports the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved legislation on Thursday that would broaden sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program, human rights record and cyber activities, amid growing international concern over Pyongyang's weapons program. The committee passed the measure by unanimous voice vote and members said they expected it would be approved by the full Senate within weeks, and, eventually, signed into law by President Barack Obama. Republican Senator Bob Corker, the panel's chairman, said the full Senate was due to begin considering the legislation during the week of Feb. 8.

January 27, 2016

The New York Times reports Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Wednesday that if China failed to do more to curb North Korea’s enhanced nuclear capacity, Washington would take steps that China has strongly opposed, including deploying defense systems to protect American allies in Asia. “This is a threat the United States must take extremely seriously,” Kerry said of North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal at a news conference with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi. “The United States will take all necessary steps to protect our people and allies. We don’t want to heighten security tensions. But we won’t walk away from any options.”

January 15, 2016

Reuters reports North Korea on Saturday called for the conclusion of a peace treaty with the United States and a halt to U.S. military exercises with South Korea to end the North's nuclear tests. The isolated state has long sought a peace treaty with the United States, as well as an end to the exercises by South Korea and the United States, which has about 28,500 troops based in South Korea. "Still valid are all proposals for preserving peace and stability on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia including the ones for ceasing our nuclear test and the conclusion of a peace treaty in return for U.S. halt to joint military exercises," North Korea's official KCNA news agency cited a spokesman for the country's foreign ministry as saying early on Saturday.

January 07, 2016

Al Jazeera reports the UN Security Council has vowed to pursue new sanctions against North Korea after the reclusive country said on Wednesday it had successfully conducted a test on its first hydrogen bomb. In an emergency session, the council strongly condemned the nuclear test and said it would begin working immediately on a new resolution against Pyongyang, whose nuclear test claim sparked a global outcry even as some officials and experts voiced doubts over its validity. The test was in violation of previous resolutions and "a clear threat to international peace and security continues to exist", said the council, which started imposing economic and commercial sanctions on North Korea a decade ago because of its nuclear activity.

January 06, 2016

NBC News reports North Korea announced Wednesday that it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test, a claim that if true would mark a huge jump in Kim Jong Un's quest to improve its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The announcement came after South Korea reported a seismic event resembling an earthquake 30 miles from the Punggye-ri site where the desperately poor and reclusive North has conducted nuclear tests in the past. However, South Korean officials and some experts questioned whether the explosion was indeed a full-fledged test of a hydrogen device.

December 10, 2015

The Associated Press reports North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared on Thursday to claim the country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were skeptical. Kim made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which marks the feats of his father Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011 and his grandfather, state founder and eternal president, Kim Il-sung, the official KCNA news agency said. The work of Kim Il-Sung "turned the DPRK into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation," KCNA quoted Kim Jong-un as saying. DPRK is the acronym for the isolated North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

October 30, 2015

BBC News reports North Korea's Workers' Party is to hold its first congress in 35 years, it has been announced. The meeting will "further strengthen the party... and enhance its leading role," an official announcement said. It is unclear how significant the gathering will be as the body holds no official power, BBC Korea correspondent Stephen Evans reports. There have been six congresses since the party came to power in 1945 - the last being held in 1980. At the time, current ruler Kim Jong-un's grandfather, Kim Il-sung, was in charge. Kim Jong-il's appearance at the congress confirmed that he was in line to succeed his father as leader.

September 17, 2015

Reuters reports a senior U.S. defense official said on Thursday that additional sanctions were a possible response to any North Korea missile launch and the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said he favored deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea. Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear and Admiral Harry Harris made the comments at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee after North Korea said this week that it was readying a new satellite for launch, indicating it may fire an upgraded long-range ballistic missile. Shear said the U.S. approach to North Korea was a combination of diplomacy and pressure.

September 15, 2015

Reuters reports North Korea said on Tuesday its main nuclear complex was operating and it was working to improve the "quality and quantity" of its weapons which it could use against the United States at "any time". The comments follow a declaration by the North in 2013 vowing to restart all nuclear facilities, including the main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon that had been shuttered. It marked the first acknowledgement since then that the plant, which has been the source of fissile material used in the country's atomic weapons program, is operational, experts said. "All the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon including the uranium enrichment plant and 5 MW graphite-moderated reactor were rearranged, changed or readjusted and they started normal operation," the North's state-run KCNA news agency said, quoting the director of its atomic agency.

September 14, 2015

Reuters reports North Korea's space agency is close to developing a new satellite and readying it for launch, state media said on Monday, suggesting it will fire a long-range rocket around a national anniversary next month. North Korea will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on Oct. 10 and has been expected to launch an upgraded long-range ballistic missile, viewed as a major violation of international sanctions. "The world will clearly see a series of satellites of Songun Korea soaring into the sky at the times and locations determined by the WPK Central Committee," the North's KCNA news agency said, with Songun referring to its "military first" policy.

August 31, 2015

The New York Times reports chirpy bubble-gum harmonies bop across the desolate Demilitarized Zone. “Look at me, I’m your genie, your dream, your genie,” the K-pop band Girls’ Generation beckons as grim-faced soldiers patrol the border. In what might be called the Hello Kitty offensive, the relentlessly upbeat girl group, a sugary confection better known for its hot-pants choreography than political statements, has become the latest weapon in the Korean cold war. If the latest standoff between North and South Korea proved anything, it is that old-school propaganda, juiced up with a synthesized K-pop beat, still has the power to get under the skin of North Korea’s leadership. Turn off the loudspeakers, the North warned, or face “all-out war.”

August 24, 2015

Reuters reports North Korea expressed regret over a landmine incident that wounded two South Korean soldiers this month, the two sides said in a joint statement issued on Tuesday after marathon talks between the rival states aimed at easing tensions.The statement also said South Korea had agreed to stop anti-North propaganda broadcasts at noon on Wednesday and that the two Koreas would hold follow-up talks in Seoul or Pyongyang to discuss a range of issues on improving ties.

August 20, 2015

The New York Times reports North and South Korea exchanged rocket and artillery fire across their tense border on Thursday in their first major armed clash in five years, the South’s Defense Ministry said. No casualties or damage were immediately reported, while both sides warned of more clashes in the coming days. North Korea said it was convening its Central Military Commission — a top decision-making body run by the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un — on Thursday night after it threatened more military action unless the South stopped.

August 12, 2015

Reuters reports North Korea's vice premier was executed by firing squad this year after showing discontent with the policies of the country's leader Kim Jong Un, a South Korean media report said on Wednesday. Yonhap News Agency cited an unnamed source as saying that the 63-year-old Choe Yong Gon, a former delegate for North-South cooperation, was executed, marking another death of a senior official in a series of high-level purges since Kim Jong Un took charge in late 2011. The Yonhap report said Choe had expressed disagreement with Kim's forestry policies in May and had shown poor work performance. It provided no further details. South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles the country's ties with North Korea, said in a text message received by Reuters that Choe had not been spotted in public for about eight months, and that it was closely monitoring the situation.

May 27, 2015

The New York Times reports the top nuclear envoys of the United States, South Korea and Japan agreed on Wednesday to ratchet up pressure on North Korea, including a more effective and creative enforcement of sanctions on the impoverished country. The three allies also said that their efforts to curtail North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions would now include increasing pressure on North Korea to improve its human rights record — a highly delicate topic that they have so far kept separate from their nuclear negotiations with the North. The six-nation talks, which also involve North Korea, China and Russia, have been dormant since 2008. In the interim, fear has been growing that the North has been increasing its stockpile of plutonium and uranium fuel for nuclear weapons.

April 09, 2015

The New York Times reports Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter’s welcome present was waiting for him when he touched down here on Thursday: confirmed reports that North Korea had fired two short-range missiles off its western coast two days before his first visit to South Korea as President Obama’s new defense chief. South Korean officials informed their American counterparts that the North on Tuesday fired two surface-to-air missiles from Pyongwon County in South Pyongan Province. The missiles flew only a few miles before plunging into the sea, defense officials said. Carter, who arrived here for talks with his South Korean counterparts over security measures on the Korean Peninsula, said the missile launch demonstrated how tense the region remained.

April 03, 2015

Reuters reports North Korea on Friday test-fired four missiles off its west coast, a week ahead of a visit to Seoul by the U.S. defense secretary, in what South Korea called a bid to stoke tension during its joint military drills with the United States. North Korea occasionally fires short-range missiles into the sea as part of its military drills and has conducted such launches during times of tension with neighboring South Korea. The four short-range projectiles flew roughly 140 km (84 miles) and plunged into the sea late on Friday afternoon, South Korea's office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "The projectiles are believed to be for a provocative show of force to pressure the South," the office said in a statement, adding that the North had fired a similar object on Thursday.

March 02, 2015

The Washington Post reports North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan on Monday morning, registering its displeasure with the start of annual military exercises between South Korea and the United States. After offering to suspend nuclear tests if the United States and South Korea canceled the drills, Pyongyang has reverted saber rattling, threatening “merciless strikes” just hours before the missiles were launched. North Korea fired the two missiles, thought to be Scud-C or Scud-D types, from the western coastal city of Nampo, about 300 miles over the peninsula and into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. The launches took place at 6:32 a.m. and 6:41 a.m., it said in a statement. They were launched as South Korea and the United States began military exercises to practice to coordinate their response to the North Korean threat: The two-week-long computer-simulated Key Resolve drill, and the Foal Eagle field exercises, which will continue through April 24.

February 02, 2015

The Washington Post reports the United States and North Korea have been actively discussing the possibility of returning to de-nuclearization talks, raising the prospect of a new round of diplomacy even as Washington takes a tougher line against Pyongyang. The countries’ nuclear envoys have been discussing the idea of “talks about talks,” according to multiple people with knowledge of the conversations. But they have not been able to agree on the logistics — in no small part because of North Korea’s continuing Ebola quarantine. “We want to test if they have an interest in resuming negotiations,” a senior U.S. administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “I think we’ve made it very clear that we would like to see them take some steps first.”

January 08, 2015

The Wall Street Journal reports a website affiliated with pro-Russia hackers took responsibility for an online attack on Wednesday that brought down key German government websites, including that of Chancellor Angela Merkel , for several hours. The attack came the same day that Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was expected to arrive in the German capital to sign an agreement for €500 million ($596 million) in loan guarantees to help rebuild war-torn eastern Ukraine. Mr. Yatsenyuk was scheduled to meet with German President Joachim Gauck later Wednesday and Ms. Merkel on Thursday.

The Washington Post reports FBI Director James B. Comey said Wednesday that the recent cyberattack against Sony Pictures was traced back to Internet addresses “exclusively used” by North Korea, as he offered new evidence intended to rebut skeptics of the bureau’s claims. There is “not much in this life that I have high confidence about,” Comey said at the International Conference on Cyber Security at Fordham University in New York. “I have very high confidence about this attribution — as does the entire intelligence community.” The FBI last month attributed the attack to North Korea — a rare instance in which the U.S. government has publicly accused another government of carrying out a specific cyberattack. In a statement, the bureau cited a “technical analysis” of malicious software used in the operation. The analysis revealed links to other malware used previously by North Korean actors, the bureau said.

January 06, 2015

Reuters reports North Korean military's "cyber army" has boosted its numbers to 6,000 troops, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, double Seoul's estimate for the force in 2013, and is working to cause "physical and psychological paralysis" in the South. The new figure, disclosed in a ministry white paper, comes after the United States, South Korea's key ally, imposed new sanctions on North Korea for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. Pyongyang has denied involvement in the attack. For years, North Korea has been pouring resources into a sophisticated cyber-warfare cell called Bureau 121, run by the military's spy agency and staffed by some of the most talented computer experts in the country.

December 29, 2014

The New York Times reports Japan and South Korea on Monday pledged for the first time to share military intelligence about North Korean weapons programs, in a three-way pact with the United States that Washington hopes will improve cooperation between its mutually estranged Asian allies. Defense analysts called the agreement a small but symbolic breakthrough because it brought together Japan and South Korea, two prosperous democracies that have been divided by emotional disputes over history and territory. The difficulties of bridging their differences were evident in the narrow scope of the pact, which was not a legally binding treaty but a memorandum of understanding.

November 19, 2014

Al Jazeera reports the United Nations has adopted a landmark resolution condemning North Korean rights abuses and laying the groundwork for putting the Pyongyang regime in the dock for crimes against humanity. A resolution asking the Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court passed by a resounding vote of 111 to 19 with 55 abstentions in a General Assembly human rights committee on Tuesday. The non-binding resolution now goes to the General Assembly for a vote in the coming weeks. China and Russia, which hold veto power on the council, voted against it. North Korea's Ambassador Choe Myong Nam reacted angrily to the vote and announced that "there was no further need for human rights dialogue" with the European Union, which drafted the resolution with Japan. The envoy warned of far-reaching consequences, and in particular declared that there was no reason for Pyongyang "not to refrain any further from conducting nuclear tests".

October 28, 2014

The New York Times reports the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whose prolonged absence from public view aroused rumors that he was ill or deposed, or both, was recovering from surgery on his left foot, South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers on Tuesday. North Korea’s state news media did not report any public appearances by Mr. Kim for almost six weeks until Oct. 14, when he was shown visiting a housing project in Pyongyang, walking with a cane. The North Korean accounts have not explained the reason for his absence.

October 22, 2014

Reuters reports U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the release of one of three Americans held in North Korea and said Washington is willing to resume talks with Pyongyang if it takes steps towards de-nuclearization. Jeffrey Fowle, 56, was arrested in May for leaving a Bible at a sailor's club in the North Korean city of Chongjin. He was freed on Tuesday and flown from Pyongyang on a U.S. government plane, without, Kerry said, any quid pro quo North Korea's KCNA state news agency said Kim Jong Un, the country's leader, released Fowle taking into consideration "repeated requests" of U.S. President Barack Obama. "The criminal was handed over to the U.S. side according to a relevant legal procedure," KCNA said. Kerry, speaking in Berlin, expressed hope that denuclearization talks with Pyongyang could start again soon, again holding out the prospect that the United States could eventually begin reducing its regional military presence.